Folks , I'm looking for help here , I fancy running this race but information is scarce, so much so that I have read this entire thread so I know it was boiling in 2011 and brutal in 2013, I like flat

This would be my 5th Marathon , I would hope for 4:00 (ish), 8 halfs 2:00 (ish) hoping to encourage my mate from Aberday to run with me, he said never again after Dublin and definitely never again after Majorca(man it was hot) , love the look of the coastal path, I'm from Belfast and reasonably new to this , most sites tend to bury you in information but on this occasion it's like register then we will tell you, which is cool if you know what your signing up to as well as talking a reluctant and much fitter and faster runner into coming with me, any information would be very welcome , and having read your stories from the start , Well done,that's fantastic

Hi Martin - well it's certainly mostly flat so that's a good start. There are two notable hills to cross the railway so you'll hit them twice in both directions (as there's two laps) my maths makes that 8 climbs. Neither hill is particularly long. One of them you hit right before the end which is quite tough but also sets up a great downhill to the finish.

You come back on yourself a few times but that's to be expected - I really don't mind that.

The path is a great surface so if you like road you'll like this. There are some gravel bits in parts but it's loose stone on hard ground nothing that presents much of a problem.

Water stations were plentiful - no problems there.

The biggest issue is the one thing that can't be predicted - the weather. My in-laws live in Llanelli so I've visited and run the coastal path many times. It can be glorious and it can blow a gale and rain like nothing you've seen.

I remember someone saying of it once that you have the wind in your face going one way and the wind in your face coming back too It's not always that bad!

I'm thinking of doing it again but only holding back because of other options.

Malcs, sorry for taking so long, I couldn't find this thread, I have signed up , still no info available, but thanks for all of yours, my mate has agreed to do the half so all is good, started training and it also is going good so far, are there pacer groups ? Not sure if I fancy one but it's always good to know and more importantly where's good for lunch and a pint afterwards ?

Ha ha - well, despite having visited Llanelli on many occasions I can't claim to be an expert on the local eateries. We've been to the golf club before and had some nice food there. I'm not much of a drinker so I can't really comment on the best place for a pint

The Bryngwyn on Bassett Terrace was also good for food. I think they serve real ales there too but do check!

If you want top notch a la carte then the Sospan by the dock is supposed to be very nice.

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